Stearns County authorities have arrested a man after a standoff near St. Cloud involving threats with an ax.
Sheriff Steve Soyka says it all started Wednesday evening when a man forced his way into the home of his ex-wife with an ax.
"This could have turned out much worse," said Soyka.
The man, who has not been identified, then left that house and returned to his home, where he holed himself up for several hours. He was finally taken into custody at 6:45 Thursday morning.
"The only interactions we really had with him was he would swear at us, or tell us to get off his property, and was not responding at all to any type of negotiations, or talk or any kind of de-escalation, if you would," Soyka explained.
Someone at that home called 911, and the suspect took off to his house and kept police at bay for hours. Soyka says they used tear gas to try to get him to come out, but that didn't work.
"We don't see people armed with axes all that often," Soyka says. "The good thing is that nobody got hurt in this particular incident."
A few hours later, the SWAT team from St. Cloud arrived to give the Sheriff's office a break, and used tear gas again. At that point, the man came out of the home.
The man is facing a number of charges including 2nd degree assault with a dangerous weapon-substantial bodily harm, and threats of violence.
Nobody was injured.
